How the Cold Will Unite Us All

It’s supposed to reach a high of 40 degrees today in New York City. My use of the word “high” is in no way sarcastic considering that the daily standard has become like, negative zero (insert everyone in Canada, Michigan, Maine — anywhere significantly colder, really — rolling their eyes), but 40 degrees is actually going to feel like Spring Break.

Oddly enough, this respite from the urban tundra isn’t comforting me the way it might have a week or two ago. Would I prefer sunshine and daisies and jorts and Rocket Pops over icicle boogers? Yes. But I’ve also recently found a strange solace in the snow globe this city has become, mostly because I truly believe the cold is uniting us all.

Where we typically avoid eye contact with strangers because it tends to signal A) that you’re going to mug them B) that they’re going to mug you or C) one of you needs to mind your own business, now it’s become completely acceptable to nod at the unknown human walking toward you solely out of frozen solidarity. “Carry on, soldier,” we’re saying to one another. “I sincerely hope your nose does not fall off.”

Ice-slicked sidewalks have made walking an Olympic endeavor; I believe that without exaggeration I’ve seen at least 5 people slip and fall this week. Huffington Post has documented a few that I myself did not see, but what the photos failed to show is the compassion that followed, because for every slip and trip I’ve witnessed, a stranger offered his or her hand to help.

Just last week I ate proverbial shit over a trick pile of snow and a really kind French couple picked me up. But had my fall occurred during the summer, limbs splayed out, face down like a starfish on the sidewalk, someone would have yelled at me for blocking foot traffic and everyone else would’ve stepped over my body, grumbling about “kids these days.”

I essentially went to college in Antarctica. It was a small university in a tiny town with not a whole lot to do, and yet the school pride was (and remains) completely unrivaled to anything I’ve ever witnessed. And funny enough, I have a very clear memory of some local paper saying that it was the freezing cold and long, hard winters that partially accounted for our bond.

I heart NY! New Yorkers helped me when my slingback got stuck in a sidewalk crack in the heat of summer. On Madison Ave. I know it must be brutal in NYC, but come try the skating rink that is Calgary. If it were a contest, we’d win! http://www.bluebesos.com

Penny Lane

Perhaps you New Yorkers should invest in some Winter boots?
Sincerely, Montreal

Kandeel

I dont believe in winter boots
Sincerely, Toronto

Penny Lane

HaHa, perhaps if Toronto experienced winter as Montreal does you would reconsider your beliefs 😉

I teach at a community college in Ohio, and while we’re used to winter, we’re not used to it being this cold for SO LONG. It was nice to see students helping each other clean off cars after a mid-afternoon blizzard, and helping their older and very, very pregnant classmates out to their cars. We’re usually pretty nice, sociable people…but not THAT nice. 🙂

I like the nice weather, but I agree – a common suffering does bring us together in ways we’d never otherwise do.